1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collapsible table and, more particularly, to a collapsible table having a modularized folding mechanism adaptive to table legs of various shapes and structures and capable of hiding therein all driving components for collapsing or expanding the table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among various house furnishings, collapsible tables have relatively complex structures and rather high selling prices but nevertheless capture a notable market share due to their advantageous foldability that allows them to be collapsed for easy storage and transportation. Presently, commercially available collapsible tables come in a variety of structures for meeting consumers' various needs. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a conventional and relatively low-priced collapsible table A which is composed essentially of a table board B and a collapsible leg assembly C. While the collapsible table A is advantageous in having a simple structure and allowing rapid collapse, the collapsible leg assembly C is equipped with no mechanism for safely fixing postures thereof. In other words, the collapsible table A even when expanded is in an unstable state, in which the table board B may rotate and thereby folding the collapsible table A if the table board B is pressed at an edge thereof intended for triggering the collapse. Or, if a young child tries to climb up the collapsible table A or impacts the collapsible leg assembly C unintentionally, the collapsible table A may also be rapidly folded, thereby trapping or hitting the child's body. Even worse, the child may be too weak to get rid of the collapsed collapsible leg assembly C and then becomes suffocated. Sadly, such tragedies are reported from time to time, causing broken families and leaving the afflicted parents in indelible grief.
In an attempt to end the tragedies resulting from the aforesaid simple collapsible tables, some collapsible tables are now equipped with safety latches or locking mechanisms for safety purposes, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,372 “Expandable and Collapsible Table”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,568 “Collapsible Table”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,304 “Collapsible Table”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,751 “Collapsible Table”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,711 “Collapsible Table”, and so on.
However, while the collapsible tables of the prior inventions are provided with safety locking mechanisms to ensure postural stability, one thing common among those designs is that all the supporting and driving structures to effectuate locking of the prior art devices are exposed, regardless of the locking mechanisms used. As a result, not only do those collapsible tables have less pleasing appearances (this can be a serious problem when it comes to furniture emphasizing design and style), but also the relative movement between the exposed driving structures may still accidentally injure users trying to collapse or expand the collapsible tables. Besides, theses known collapsible tables have folding mechanisms that must be assembled to the table boards and the table legs respectively through complicated and inconvenient assembling/disassembling processes, which render the collapsible tables unfavorable to fabrication and transportation. Hence, a need exists for an improved collapsible table that remedies all the above-mentioned shortcomings of the known collapsible tables such as inferior appearance, inconvenient assembly/disassembly, inadequate safety, and so on.